News Room

Making Publicly-Funded Preschool Possible To All American Families

December 14, 2016

The Huffington Post

A few days after the election Joshua, one of my four-year-old students, told me he hated Donald Trump. Joshua sounded both angry and afraid. As a liberal democrat, I understand that fear all too well. My response to Joshua was, “Hate is a very strong word. I understand that you’re afraid of what this means to you and your family. Mr. Trump’s victory represents that changes are inevitable. Sometimes we need to see what changes are going to take place and remember that we, as Americans, have a voice in those changes.”

The following day we read a story entitled, “The Monster Who Lost His Mean” by Tiffany Strelitz Haber. As a class, we discussed the Onster’s struggle when he loses his M; after being teased, he finally realizes that he does have choices as an Onster. That lead us to a thoughtful conversation about how change and choices tend to go hand in hand. As we face new changes, it is important for us to look at what choices there are.

President-elect Donald Trump has stated that he will make K-12 school choice vouchers available to families once in office. His selection of Betsy Devos as Secretary of Education, demonstrates his desire to make this happen. What choices will there be for early education and preschool? Some of that $20 billion for school choice vouchers should be used to increase publicly-funded preschool options throughout the United States. If we want to see great changes in our nation then let’s begin by investing early in our children’s future. And what better place to start than with preschool.